This video is simply hilarious. It reenacts the incident with Larry Craig in the airport bathroom. For anyone wondering, Larry Craig is a Republican Senator who was arrested June 8 when he allegedly made sexual advances to an undercover police officer (who was in the stall next to his in a public washroom at the Minneapolis airport). Now, the Republican party has turned against him, and they want him to resign.

See what really happened in the following reenactment:

A second teenager has changed his plea in connection with attacks on Chinese students earlier this month in Saint John. Jonathan Martin, 19, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to possession of a knife and damage to public property.

Students were assaulted two weekends in a row earlier in August, near the University of New Brunswick campus. The attacks terrified members of the city’s Chinese community. Summer Mu, a former University of New Brunswick student who lives in Saint John, says one victim in particular has been scarred by the experience. “She still cannot sleep at night, and so scared. She’s also thinking about if she should be back to China,” Mu said.

Now here is the strange part.  A man and his girlfriend walking on University Avenue late at night and heard footsteps running toward them from behind. When they turned, three young men stopped and apologized, saying they thought the couple were Chinese.  Martin was not charged with the attack on July 28, but he was with the group on Aug. 9 when they confronted the man and his girlfriend. The trio told the couple they were doing random beatings on Chinese students to scare them into going back home and to keep others from coming to Canada. They asked the man to join them, but he declined and called police when he got away from them.

Martin was not the one who did the talking when the trio approached the man on University Avenue, but he was present, said prosecutor Kelly Winchester. The witness told police all the young men had shaved heads and were carrying pieces of pipe.  When police arrived a short while later, they found the three young men, but they were not carrying any weapons. So after getting names and an address, they were sent on their way. But a short while later another officer found the pipes, a knife and spray paint under a car a few metres away from where they questioned the young men, so they were arrested at the address given.

The man that called police said he had recently started working with a Chinese student and had heard how scared the local community was because of the two attacks. He wanted to help, so he called police, said Winchester.  When Martin was arrested he told police he had not done anything like that before, and had only shaved his head that night. The police report indicated he still had shaving cream and bits of hair on his head, said Winchester.

This comes just one week after another teen pleaded guilty. The remaining teen, a 15-year-old, has been sent to the Miramichi Youth Detention Centre for a psychiatric evaluation. I can only hope that the sentencing is as brutal as the attacks were to the students.

Regarding the Chinese students being assaulted, there has been new developments. One of three young people charged in connection with violent attacks on Chinese students in Saint John has changed his plea to guilty. The 17-year-old boy, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, has pleaded guilty to assault and possession of a dangerous weapon. He will be back in court for sentencing on Sept. 27.

As for 19-year-old Jonathan Clifford Martin from Quispamsis - he appeared in court Thursday to set a trail date but it was adjourned because he still does not have a lawyer. He is charged with possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace and damaging a bus shelter by painting a racial epithet on it. He was remanded back to jail until next Tuesday to see if his Legal Aid application has been approved.

Let’s hope that this small act of justice will not go unnoticed by the students. I am sad that this has happened to them in my city; however, it is now up to us to show them that racism is not acceptable and that we will not stand by while this goes on.

When cars and skateboards collide, the skateboarder is sent to the hospital. At least that’s what happened on Sunday, here in the city. The telegraph also has more information here.

The 25-year-old skateboarder was skateboarding down the middle of a two lane road and caused a tie up in traffic. So, as can be expected of drivers in the city, one car attempted to pass on the right hand side. That’s when the skateboarder decided to make a right hand turn. The skateboarder was struck by the car and knocked to the ground. Lucky, he wasn’t run over. He is currently in the hospital with a broken elbow and a concussion. The skateboarder was also not wearing any protective gear or a helmet.

Sgt. Pat Bonner of the Saint John Police Force says that “the streets are not made for skateboards - bottom line,” he said. “They’re for vehicles, not for skateboarders.” Bicycles use the roadway, he said, but riders must follow the rules of the road just like the motorized vehicles that travel them. “What control do you really have over (a skateboard)? They seem to think they have control - not like a vehicle that has brakes on it.”

The driver of the car is not being charged. I totally agree with that decision. There is no way that the car should be responsible when the guy is being an idiot on a road. What really made me want to post this article is what I saw tonight. I drove by a guy on a skateboard on Loch Lomond Road (when it was dark out). What’s strange about this? Well he was skateboarding in the middle of the lane in the opposite direction. He also wasn’t wearing a helmet or any gear. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear about him getting hit tonight!

So what is a skateboarder to do in Saint John? Well, you can wait for the skate park to be completed. Plans are underway to build a more than half-million dollar skateboard park near Harbour Station. The money has been raised and it is expected the park will open in 2008. Jason MacLean, chairman of the Fundy Skateboard Association that is the driving force behind the park, said his group will support a bylaw that will levy heavy fines on skateboarders that choose to ride on busy city streets. But until an alternative such as the proposed park is available, he understands why some skaters take to the streets in search of a good ride. A bylaw, he said, that carries a heavy fine will go a long way to stopping boarders skating on heavy thoroughfares such as King Street.

But Bonner isn’t so sure the opening of the park will get the skateboarders off city streets and away from the danger to themselves and drivers. “I think we’re still going to have (skateboarders) coming down King Street, that’s my opinion. Time will tell on that.”

Last night, Council voted in favor of holding a plebiscite prior to the 2008 municipal election. This means the citizens of Saint John will finally have the opportunity to vote to change the current electoral system. The motion was raised by Michelle Hooton and passed with a vote of 6 to 4.

• In favor: Mayor Norm McFarlane and councillors Michelle Hooton, Peter McGuire, Stephen Chase, Carl White, and John Ferguson.
• Voted against: Councillors Ivan Court, Glen Tait, Bill Farren, and Jay-Young Chang.
• MIA: Chris Titus.

The main combatants in the heated dispute were Hooton, who spoke passionately in favour of the motion, and Court, who spoke just as passionately against the concept, quoting past studies that indicated a ward system wouldn’t necessarily improve representation. Hooton said a majority of citizens have indicated for the past decade that they want a mixed-ward system, but past councils have rejected the idea. Council has the power to act on its own, she said, by changing the rules without a plebiscite. But her motion asked for the matter to be brought before the public before the next election.

The province also advised that new ward boundaries would have to be in place more than six months before the election, which is scheduled for May 12, 2008. That means results would have to be known before Nov. 12, leaving a little less than three months to educate the public and hold a plebiscite.

It was the second vote on the topic in the last few months. In April, council defeated a motion to implement a ward system by a vote of 8-3. Those in favour of wards were Hooton, Chase and Peter McGuire. Those against wards McFarlane and Ferguson, Tait, Chang, Court, Farren, Titus and White.

So how can you support the ward system? Easy, tell your friends and family about it. Let them know that is can improve the way people are election in the city and make people more accountable. It’s going to be good for the city and for our electoral system.

Also, I’ve started a Facebook group, I’m voting for a Ward System in Saint John, NB, that you can join to show your support!

My favorite tool when working with NHibernate is MyGeneration. MyGeneration is a code generator and O/R mapping solution. It’s as simple as selecting the script to run, setting up your database connection string, and clicking run. It can instantly generate class files along with the required NHibernate mapping files. This can save a lot of time upfront when you need to quickly access your database.

Here is my step-by-step guide to getting NHibernate mappings and class files from your database:

1) Download and install the latest copy of MyGeneration from here.

2) Make sure you have the required connector for your database. Several databases are supported natively; however, others will require an additional download. See this page for more information and links to connectors to download. Note: My computer has Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 installed, so the SQL Server connectors were already installed. However, I did need to install a connector for MySQL. Once installed, I also had to navigate to the installation folder to retrieve the binary connector file. It was called MySql.Data.dll. I simply copied this into the base MyGeneration folder and was ready to go!

3) Run MyGeneration. When prompted to set the Default Settings, set the connection to your database. For MySQL select MySQL2 from the driver list. Remember to test the connection to make sure it works before saving.

4) Find the template for NHibernate. On the left hand side of the screen is the Object Browser. Click the globe icon to open the Online Template Gallery. Expand the NHibernate section and choose a template. In my case, I picked one for NHibernate 1.2. Press the save icon to save it locally.

5) Expand the NHibernate folder in the Object Browser. Double click on a template to open it. Click the green start button to run. The pop up window will allow you to specify various options for the output. Typically, you are able to specify the namespace and assembly information, select a database using your connection information, and which tables/views to map. One mistake I made at fist was not selecting any tables. If you do not select any, it will still say the script ran successfully. When you are happy with your selections, choose OK to run the template. The code will be created in your output folder!

As you can see, once setup, code generation can quickly speed up the development process by eliminating the tedious tasks and letting developers focus on what is really important - the business logic!

There are times when I am proud to be from Saint John, and other times I am just plain embarrassed.

The first story involves Chinese students in the city being attacked. The students were out walking in the early morning near UNBSJ before being attacked by three individuals, one was nineteen and the other two were under age. The attacks took place over several weekends and appear to be racially motivated. I find this just plain disgusting. I have gotten to know several Chinese students, through my community involvement, and found them to be very great people who want nothing more then to graduate and find a job here! These students are very important to our community. These are the people who will help us grow our city and province. I can only hope that we, as a community, can show these students that the vast majority of citizens are very glad to see the Chinese students choose Saint John to attend school and hopefully to work!

The other story involves Chinese food. This headline actually made front page news on cbc.ca today. On Sunday, a deliveryman, in his 60’s, was delivering the food to a house in Champlain Heights. When he got out of his car, he was jumped and beaten to the ground. Graham Dunphy, supervisor for the delivery service, said the attacker took the food and left. “I would probably think it’s weird they didn’t try to take his money,” Dunphy said. “My opinion would be they were drinking and hungry, and figured it would be an easy way to get free food.” The man is now recovering from his injuries. What I find so disturbing is that I live so close to the area where the attack took place. It’s not something I would expect, but really makes you sad to know that this type of activity can take place anywhere. I hope that the police are able to catch this person and hold him accountable for his actions!

As requested by a loyal viewer (Andrew), it’s Do the Bartman:

The best part about the video is Christopher Walken’s dancing: